Introduction
The Rogue class in Diablo 4 offers a variety of gameplay styles, and one powerful option is the Death Trap Rogue Build. With a focus on traps and crowd control, this build provides excellent damage and survivability. In this guide, we will explore the skills, items, and strategies that make this build effective.
Build Overview
The Death Trap Rogue Build revolves around the Rogue’s traps, which have great potential despite their limited number. The Death Trap skill, in particular, serves as the main damage source. By reducing its cooldown through various means such as cooldown reduction (CDR), the Supreme modifier, Advanced Twisting Blades, and the Exposure Key Passive, you can use this trap on every pack of monsters encountered. The Poison Trap is used to activate other poison or trap-related bonuses and deals significant damage on its own. Twisting Blades is a skill that not only deals damage but also reduces the cooldowns of other skills, making it a valuable asset. With excellent crowd control and damage per second (DPS), this build provides durability and prevents enemies from landing hits.
Please note that this guide covers the basic variant of the build, without delving into all possible utility skills or alternative variants. As the game continues to evolve, we will update this guide accordingly.
Skills
PUNCTURE [1/5]
This short-range skill is primarily used for utility rather than damage. It can slow enemies with every third strike or on critical hits.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Puncture [1/1]: Gain 2 energy when Puncture hits a CC’d target.
- Fundamental Puncture [1/1]: Throw 3 blades, each dealing approximately one-third of the original damage. Hitting an enemy with at least 2 blades will make it vulnerable, making it effective against large enemies or those in close proximity.
TWISTING BLADES [5/5]
Twisting Blades is a core ability that deals decent damage. It impales enemies, causing them to take increased damage from you. After 1.5 seconds, the blades return, piercing all enemies in their path.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Twisting Blades [1/1]: Blades deal 30% increased damage when returning.
- Advanced Twisting Blades [1/1]: Blades reduce cooldowns by 0.1 seconds for each enemy they pierce while returning, up to a maximum of 2 seconds.
DASH [5/5]
Dash is a movement skill with a cooldown and two charges. It allows you to dash forward and deal damage in a straight line.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Dash [1/1]: Enemies you dash through will take 15% increased critical damage for 5 seconds.
SHADOW STEP [1/5]
Shadow Step grants increased movement speed while being unstoppable. It is primarily used for mobility and not significant damage.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Shadow Step [1/1]: All damage against the enemy you’ve stabbed has an increased critical chance by 8% for 3 seconds.
- Methodical Shadow Step [1/1]: Enemies damaged by this skill are stunned for 2 seconds.
POISON TRAP [1/5]
Poison Trap is a trap that deals high poison damage for 9 seconds after activation. It has a 10-second cooldown, and you can have up to 4 traps active at a time.
Modifiers:
- Enhanced Poison Trap [1/1]: Trap knocks down enemies upon activation.
- Subverting Poison Trap [1/1]: All your skills deal 10% increased poison damage to enemies while you’re standing in the trap.
DEATH TRAP [1/1]
Death Trap is the ultimate skill in this build. It deals 250% damage once to enemies within range upon activation.
Modifiers:
- Prime Death Trap [1/1]: Pulls enemies after activating, making them easier to hit with other skills.
- Supreme Death Trap [1/1]: The trap’s cooldown is reduced by 10% if it kills at least one enemy.
Passive Skills
The passive skills selected for the Death Trap Rogue Build provide various bonuses to enhance your overall effectiveness.
- STURDY [1/3]: Grants 4% close damage reduction.
- SIPHONING STRIKES [2/3]: After critically striking a close enemy, heal for 2% of maximum life.
- CONCUSSIVE [3/3]: If you knock down or knock back an enemy, gain a 12% increased critical strike chance against these opponents for 3 seconds.
- TRICK ATTACKS [3/3]: Striking dazed opponents critically will knock them down for 1.5 seconds.
- EXPLOIT [3/3]: Increases your damage by 18% against healthy and injured enemies.
- MALICE [3/3]: You deal 9% increased damage to vulnerable targets.
- DEADLY VENOM [1/3]: Increases your poisoning damage by 3%.
- DEBILITATING TOXINS [3/3]: Poisoned enemies deal 15% less damage.
- INNERVATION [3/3]: Lucky hits have a 30% chance to generate 8 energy.
- TRAP MASTERY [3/3]: When one of your traps activates, gain a 12% increased critical chance against vulnerable or CC’d enemies for 4 seconds.
- AFTERMATH [3/3]: Using Death Trap restores 75 energy.
- ADRENALINE RUSH [1/3]: Increases energy regeneration by 5% while moving.
- HASTE [3/3]: Increases movement speed if you have more than half of your maximum energy. Otherwise, increases attack speed.
Key Passive
EXPOSURE
The Exposure key passive ability affects only your lucky hits. Dealing direct damage to an enemy affected by traps has a 25% chance to reduce the active cooldown of your traps by 20% and to drop a grenade that deals low physical damage and stuns for half a second.
Items
When it comes to items, prioritize the following stats: resource generation, critical chance and damage, cooldown reduction (CDR), lucky hits, and vulnerability-related modifiers. Slowing or knocking down enemies should occur most of the time. For defensive purposes, focus on dodge chance and maximum life.
Here’s the stat priority list for different item slots:
Main Hand:
- % Vuln DMG → % Crit DMG → Lucky Hit Chance → Int
Off-Hand:
- % CDR → % DMG Reduction
2-Hand:
- % Vuln DMG → DMG to Vulnerable → % Crit DMG
Helm:
- % CDR → Lucky Hit Chance → % Max Life → Int
Chest Armor:
- % Max Life → % DMG Reduction
Gloves:
- % Crit Chance → % Crit DMG → Lucky Hit Chance
Pants:
- % DMG Reduction → % Max Life
Boots:
- % Move Speed → % Resource Cost → % Move Speed
Amulet:
- % CDR → % DMG → % Max Life → % Resource Cost Reduction
Rings:
- % Vuln DMG → % Lucky Hit Chance → Int
For sockets, use an Emerald Gem in a weapon slot to increase critical strike damage against vulnerable enemies. Use a Skull in your armor to regenerate more life with Siphoning Strikes. For jewelry, choose a Diamond for extra resistance of all kinds or a Skull for additional armor.
Recommended Unique Items
Harlequin Crest (Helm): This versatile item provides increased maximum life, CDR, damage reduction, skill rank, and all stats.
Eyes in the Dark (Pants): These pants synergize well with traps, increasing trap damage, dodge chance, movement speed, and modifying Death Trap to continuously re-arm on kill.
Cowl of the Nameless (Helm): This alternate helmet choice significantly improves CDR, maximum energy, dexterity, lucky hit chance, and CC duration.
CODEX OF POWER Legendary Aspects
Mandatory/Heavily recommended Aspects
Bladedancer’s Aspect: Upgrades your Twisting Blades, causing blades to orbit around you after returning, dealing additional damage with each cast.
Blast-Trapper Aspect: Works on lucky hits, making enemies affected by traps vulnerable for 3 seconds.
Optional Aspects
Aspect of Disobedience: Increases armor if dealing many instances of damage, which suits poison damage.
Mangler’s Aspect: Grants a high chance to daze vulnerable enemies on lucky hits.
Aspect of Uncanny Resilience: Chance to increase damage reduction on lucky hits.
Cheat’s Aspect: Reduces damage from CC’d enemies and grants movement speed if such an enemy damages you.
Aspect of Surprise: Upgrades Shadow Step to leave a cluster of grenades that deal damage and stun enemies.
Aspect of Quickening Fog: Improves Dash by dropping a grenade at the terminal location. The Cooldown of Dash is reduced for each enemy Dazed by the grenade.
Exploiter Aspect: Increases CC duration by 20%. If the enemy cannot be CC’d, they take increased damage instead.
Wind Striker Aspect: Increases movement speed for 1 second on critical strike, stacking up to 6 seconds.
Paragon
1st Board – Starting Board:
- Nodes: Purchase intelligence around the glyph socket.
- Glyphs: Combat helps with energy generation, with critical strikes restoring 12% of skill’s energy.
2nd Board – Cheap Shot Board:
- Nodes: Allocate all rare nodes around the glyph socket. The Legendary node increases your damage per nearby CC’d enemy by up to 25% if there are 5 of them.
- Glyphs: Diminish reduces physical damage taken by 10% from vulnerable opponents and improves rare nodes in its radius.
3rd Board – No Witnesses Board:
- Nodes: Purchase intelligence around the glyph socket. The Legendary node increases your ultimate skills’ damage by 30% and increases your character’s damage by 10% for 20 seconds after using it.
- Glyphs: Tracker makes poison damage effects last longer and increases damage to poisoned targets.
4th Board – Exploit Weakness Board:
- Nodes: Purchase intelligence around the glyph socket. Choose the Legendary node to receive less damage from vulnerable enemies you’ve hit.
- Glyphs: With Control, you deal increased damage to CC’d enemies, especially stunned ones.
5th Board – Deadly Ambush Board:
- Nodes: Purchase intelligence around the glyph socket. There’s another superb Legendary node that massively increases your critical damage to enemies affected by trap skills.
- Glyphs: Snare increases trap damage and non-ultimate traps’ radius.
Conclusion
This beta version of the Death Trap Rogue Build for Diablo 4 provides a potent gameplay experience. As the game evolves and more testing is conducted, we will continue to update this guide. We appreciate any feedback or suggestions to improve our future work. Stay tuned for more Diablo 4 build guides and don’t hesitate to share your build requests in the comments!
Images used in this article are the intellectual property of Blizzard Entertainment.
